


Only Good Things

by Jain



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: First Time, M/M, POV Third Person, Podfic Available, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-02
Updated: 2012-09-02
Packaged: 2017-11-13 09:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of their neighbors think that Steve and Bucky are dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Good Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kikibug13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikibug13/gifts).



> I drew upon elements of comics canon when writing this, particularly the Winter Soldier arc, though the fic is ultimately set in the movieverse and contradicts more comics canon than it incorporates.

All of their neighbors think that Steve and Bucky are dating. It takes Bucky longer than it should to figure this out; an ex-Russian spy with literally hundreds of successful assignments under his belt, and he manages to miss the fact that the entire apartment building thinks he's shacking up with Steve for _three months?_ It's an embarrassment, is what it is.

In his partial defense, when Steve first brought him home, about the only good thing anyone could say about Bucky's mental state was that he didn't have a timebomb in his head just waiting for the right trigger. Still, it couldn't have been more than a month, maybe a month and a half, that he spent relearning how to be, well, _him_.

He's been functioning normally for six weeks--or at least able to fake it convincingly--when he runs into Mrs. Moretti returning home with her groceries just as he's heading out. She has one of those collapsible wire pushcarts, which is great for getting her bags back from the store, but doesn't do squat for getting them up to her second floor apartment. Bucky holds the front door open for her, wincing inwardly as she hefts the cart with visible effort up the single step to the lobby. He thinks she may be around 75 years old; she's not their oldest neighbor, and she's not _frail_ , but she obviously isn't strong, either.

"Mrs. Moretti, I'd be happy to carry your bags upstairs for you, if you'd like," he says, copying Steve's earnest good will to the best of his ability. He really doesn't want her to tackle the job on her own, but he has no illusions about how reputable he looks right now, even cleanshaven and with his metal arm covered up.

Mrs. Moretti doesn't hesitate a moment, though. She just smiles up at him and says, "Oh, yes, thank you. That would be lovely, dear."

She's all set to take the bags out and show him how the cart collapses, but he shakes his head and says, "I've got this," before lifting the entire cart off the floor by its handle.

Mrs. Moretti's smile widens enough that he can see that she has dimples underneath her wrinkles. "I should've known," she tells him. "Steve carries it the same way."

It's no surprise to hear that Steve's given her a hand with the cart, but it still gives Bucky a good feeling to have tangible evidence that he's doing an okay job of fitting himself to the contours of Steve's life. Bucky might be temporarily sidelined as far as grand redemptive gestures go, but he can carry groceries for little old ladies with the best of them...and Steve is, without question, the very best of them.

He lets her lead the way up the stairs. As expected, she's slower than Bucky even without anything to weigh her down. He's seriously considering asking Steve if Tony could install an elevator in the building and write it off on his taxes somehow. Or maybe Bucky should just appoint himself the building's unofficial porter; it's not as though he has anything better to do with his time.

"Thank you so much," Mrs. Moretti says again when they've reached the second floor and Bucky has set her cart down. "Are you busy right now, or would you like to come in for some pound cake? You should get some kind of reward for your help."

"I...uh...sure," Bucky says, caught a little off-balance by the invitation. He really isn't busy, though; his biggest plans for the day were going to the park and maybe ordering Chinese later. Besides, he knows that the main reason Steve got the okay to take Bucky home with him was that Fury thought Bucky needed to reintegrate into civilian life. It only makes sense to take advantage of any opportunities to do so that might arise, especially since Fury no doubt has been keeping eyes and ears--both human and electronic--on Bucky. Bucky might as well give the man a nice show.

So he pushes Mrs. Moretti's cart past the apartment he shares with Steve and down to the end of the hall where she lives. He helps her put away her groceries despite her polite protests, and then he lets her settle him at the table with a slice of pound cake and a cup of instant coffee.

"There are strawberries and whipped cream, too, if you want," she says, taking a container of strawberries in syrup and a can of Reddi-Wip out of the fridge.

"Just some strawberries, please," Bucky says. He tried Reddi-Wip for the first time five months ago; he doesn't remember it fondly.

Mrs. Moretti spoons some strawberries onto both of their plates, adds a thick swirl of cream to hers, and sits down across from Bucky. "Go ahead," she says, so Bucky takes a bite.

"It's really good," he says after he's swallowed, only lying slightly. Most storebought cakes taste sticky and too sweet to him, but other than that, this one isn't half-bad. He can taste hints of vanilla and...orange, maybe? Something that goes well with the strawberries, in any case.

"I'm glad you like it," Mrs. Moretti says. Then she puts down her fork to give him an apologetic look. "This is going to sound terrible, but I've been wracking my brains, and I just can't remember your name."

Bucky grins at her. "That's fine. Uh...you can call me James."

"That's it!" She smiles at him warmly. "Steve talks about you all the time, you know. I really should have remembered."

"He does?" Bucky asks, surprised. Steve wasn't trained in espionage or anything, but surely it's obvious that the Winter Soldier isn't someone to gossip about with the neighbors, no matter how very retired that persona might be.

Mrs. Moretti's smile turns wry. "Well, I don't think he could really help it. I'm sure you've noticed that this is an old building, with more than its share of older tenants."

Bucky nods. There are a few families and younger couples in the building, but the apartments are rent-controlled and most of the tenants have lived there for three or four decades or more.

"And older people tend not to go out as much, and we sometimes get a bit nosy when it comes to other people's business. So, you see, we couldn't help but notice that Steve never brought anyone home with him, even though he's such a handsome young man. Only then _you_ moved in, and so of course everyone was interested and asked Steve about you."

"Of course," Bucky says, nodding again, years of experience keeping him from showing a stronger reaction that would give the game away completely.

"He only has good things to say about you," she adds, and Bucky tries to focus on that and not on the fact that Steve's been...what? Letting the entire apartment building think that he and Bucky are together, without even mentioning it to Bucky? Or has Steve actually been oblivious to the subtext underlying everyone's interest in Bucky?

"What kinds of good things?" Bucky asks with a stab at a flirtatious smile.

Mrs. Moretti gives him a look that says she knows exactly what he's up to, but she also answers his question. "Let's see. He thinks you're good-looking...as I'm sure you know," she says, giving him a blatant once-over that is almost enough to make Bucky blush. "He said that you're a veteran and that he's impressed by your service to the country. You're apparently an excellent cook and a very easy roommate. I think the most important thing, though, is that he said he's lived alone a long time and that he couldn't imagine wanting to share his home with anyone but you."

Bucky swallows hard. That...is not at all what he was expecting to hear. Good-looking, sure, though Steve's kind of left him in the dust as far as that goes. On the other hand, "excellent cook" is only overstating his talents if you don't compare them to Steve's.

But the rest of it? His service to the country is overshadowed by the terrible things he did as the Winter Soldier, and Bucky can't even begin to apply the words "easy roommate" to someone who was a complete wreck for the first month, who even now suffers alternately from insomnia and night terrors, and who once tried to _kill_ Steve when Steve approached him too quietly from behind. He half-hopes that Steve was lying to Mrs. Moretti when he told her all that crap; Steve deserves better than Bucky, and, as much as that hurts to acknowledge, it's somehow even worse to think that Steve might be too self-sacrificing to realize it.

"He's been so much happier since you moved in," Mrs. Moretti concludes gently, as though she can tell that she's just knocked Bucky for a tailspin. Still, she can't possibly realize how much that's the case, so Bucky forces himself to smile and make conversation about the other tenants and about the grandchildren whose pictures are on Mrs. Moretti's walls until enough time has passed that he can bid her a polite farewell.

* * *

Steve returns home while Bucky is in the middle of a back and forth argument with himself about whether he should confront Steve or ignore the whole situation.

"Hey, Bucky," Steve says, face lighting up as though whatever godawful mission he was just on can't drag him down as long as he can come home to his best friend the assassin and mass-murderer, and, fuck it, Bucky's suddenly way too angry--at Steve, at the world, but mostly at himself--to remain silent.

"Did you know that everyone here thinks we're dating?" he demands before Steve's even finished closing the door.

Steve's smile disappears. He gives Bucky an unreadable look and deliberately turns his back so that he can lock and deadbolt the door and set the fancy electronic alarm system Tony gave him. "Yeah, I did," he says to the wall.

As soon as the apartment's secure, though, he takes a seat at the opposite end of the sofa from where Bucky's been sitting for the past two hours. "It caught me off-guard when people first started asking, but then I figured it was as good a reason as any for you to be living with me, and definitely a lot better than their knowing the truth, so I just...didn't correct them."

"Okay," Bucky says slowly. "That makes sense, but then why the hell wouldn't you tell _me?_ I can't help keep our cover if I don't even know it _exists,_ Steve."

Steve shrugs awkwardly. "I thought it might upset you."

Bucky snorts. "Oh, yeah, it's really going to do my reputation damage if people think I'm sleeping with Captain America."

"They don't know I'm Cap--"

"Okay, one," Bucky interrupts. "They absolutely know that you're Captain America, because they're not stupid. The older ones, at least, the ones who watched your films and collected your trading cards and played your board game."

"I have a board game?" Steve asks.

"It's from the fifties. And, to get back to the second point I was trying to make, even if nobody in the world knew your superhero identity, then plain old Steve Rogers would still be pretty far out of my league."

"No, Bucky," Steve insists, frowning. "That's ridiculous. I'm not out of anybody's league, least of all yours."

Bucky shakes his head and forces himself to speak despite the sudden ache in his throat. "Not to be an asshole or anything, but you're living in the past, Rogers. I'm not the person you remember."

"You're a lot more him than you think," Steve says quietly. "And if 1944 was more recent for me than it was for you, then what that tells me is that I remember who you were back then better than you do, so you should believe me when I say you're not different in any way that matters."

"At least admit that I'm a shitty roommate!"

"What?" Steve blinks at him in surprise, and Bucky can't really blame him. That was completely out of left field, but he can't...he just can't handle Steve telling him that he hasn't changed a bit when Bucky can remember every man, woman, and child--God, the children; only four of them but that was far too many--he killed as the Winter Soldier.

"You told Mrs. Moretti that I'm easy to live with. I'm pretty sure that people who try to _kill you_ aren't easy to live with by definition."

"That happened once," Steve says, "and I startled you. It was my fault."

Bucky opens his mouth to argue further, but before he can say anything, Steve says, "Bucky, I'm a little confused about what's going on here. It's like you're trying to talk me out of dating you...except we're already not dating."

It _is_ like that, Bucky realizes--all of his misplaced anger at Steve just a smokescreen allowing him to persist in this ridiculous argument--and Steve's right, it doesn't make sense for him to do that. Bucky freezes suddenly. Oh, fuck, except it's even worse than that. He hasn't been trying to talk Steve out of dating him; he's been trying to talk him _into_ it, in the most ass-backwards way possible. As though, if Steve could only counter all of Bucky's arguments, then the two of them would come out into some looking glass world in which it only made sense for them to actually be together.

It's with a sense of inevitable doom that Bucky watches Steve's eyes clear and hears him say, "Unless you _want_ us to be."

Bucky shakes his head firmly. "We can't."

"We won't if you don't want to," Steve corrects him. "But we definitely can."

"What are you saying, Steve?" Bucky scoffs. "That _you_ want to...," but before he can even finish that question, Steve is on his side of the sofa and kissing him on the mouth.

He only holds the kiss a few seconds before pulling away to say, "That's exactly what I'm saying, Bucky."

Bucky stares at him for a long moment. No matter what Steve says, this is a terrible idea; Bucky can't deny that no matter how much he might wish to. On the other hand, Steve wants this--wants _him_ \--enough to risk it, and Bucky doesn't know if he's even capable of turning his back on that.

"Fine," he says at last. "I guess it's okay that everyone already thinks we're dating," and pulls Steve into another kiss.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Only Good Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/780342) by [Jain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain), [sisi_rambles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles)




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